


Spring Thunder

by hopeandjoy



Category: Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Festivals, Fluff, M/M, Valentine's Day, female oc is the ikesoren adopted daughter, ike "im gay" fireemblem, intsys said ikesoren rights so i said this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 20:07:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17793926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeandjoy/pseuds/hopeandjoy
Summary: “There’s got to be a really cool story!”“About what?”“About how Papa and Father met!”“A story about your father and I, huh?” Papa said, cutting in. He shifted his grip on Elena. “I think I have one.“When I was around 15, your Father, your Aunt, and our mercenary group’s priest, Rhys, had been invited by the neighboring village to perform some magic for the planting festival…”In which Ike relays the story of how he realized he was in love with Soren, involving pretty clothes, magic, and a whole lot of flowers.





	Spring Thunder

**Author's Note:**

> *slides in just under the wire*
> 
> im here. i pulled valentines ikesoren and im here. what time is it? valentimes.

Elena snaked her way through the village square in search of the food stalls and thus, her fathers. She wasn’t really that eager to be with them, especially after tearing the hem and getting mud all over her new skirt wrestling with the boys, but some sacrifices had to be made.

After all, she couldn’t let Nancy win.

Nancy, who never wanted to play swords or read books with her, who assumed she didn’t know anything about anything just because her dads were foreign and had explained in exhaustive detail about how the festival today was in honor of the first king and queen’s wedding and how romantic it all was.

Nancy, who claimed her parents had the best story of how they fell in love.

That was one thing Elena could not stand. Papa and Father were the absolute coolest people in the whole world, and the fact they were mercenaries who went on exciting missions to kill brigands and pirates only proved it. (Her fathers much more frequently worked fields and checked over the local merchants’ books, but such things were far less memorable to a seven-year-old.)

There was absolutely no way that Papa and Father’s love story didn’t involve a rescue or pirates or dragons or a rescue from pirate dragons. But Elena wasn’t going to make something up. There was no point in beating Nancy if it was with a lie, so the only thing to do was to find her fathers and ask them herself.

Elena found them in front of a food stall with roasting meat. Papa stared at the fire behind the stall, eyes flickering between the various types. Next to him, Father looked faintly amused. Deciding not to interrupt her Papa, Elena tugged on her Father’s robes to catch his attention.

When Father looked down and saw Elena, he began to smile until he saw her skirt. He sighed. “Ike, look what your daughter’s done this time,” he said.

Papa tore his attention from the meat and towards Elena before laughing and picking her up. “Did you win?” he asked, blue eyes sparkling.

“Edwin started crying after I pinned him the third time,” Elena said.

“That’s my girl.”

Elena heard Father mutter something like “100 gold”, but he instead began to card his hand through her messy hair.

“Why did you come running all the way here, Elena?” Father said instead. “Did something happen?”

She nodded. “Nancy said that the Day of Devotion was all about love because of King Alm and Queen Celica and that instead of pushing the boys in the mud, I should be nice to them. I said that was stupid because they push each other in the mud _all the time_ and it’s fun anyway and it’s not even that cold so we aren’t gonna freeze. And then she turned her nose up at me and said that I wasn’t a lady and I said she wasn’t a lady either because Father said ladies are noble and she’s just a merchant’s daughter and that the Day of Devotion was boring adult stuff anyway.”

“That wasn’t very nice,” Papa said.

“Well, it’s true,” Elena huffed.

“Sometimes we don’t say mean things, even if they are true,” Papa said. Father covered his mouth with his hand, but Elena could see his eyes light up and hear a faint snort. Papa scratched his cheek. “Well, what happened next?”

“Nancy said that it wasn’t boring because of love and when I asked her about what was so great about that she said that her parents told her they met on the Day of Devotion while the stars were falling. So, I came here, because I can’t let her win.”

“What do you mean, ‘let her win’?” Father asked.

“There’s got to be a really cool story!”

“About what?”

“About how Papa and Father met!”

Father’s hand paused momentarily as it brushed Elena’s hair, and his face had the same pinched look it had when she asked him things like where Father’s birthmark had come from and if it was true that a dragon lived in the village and why he and Papa had left their home to come all the way to Valm.

(Papa had explained once that Father was actually very shy and had a hard time talking to people about some things. Elena didn’t get it. The other day, Father had called a farmer who had given Elena a free orange a terrible salesman to his face. And besides, wasn’t she his daughter? Papa had a sad smile on his face and merely said that she would understand when she was older, which was her least favorite phrase.)

“A story about your father and I, huh?” Papa said, cutting in. He shifted his grip on Elena. “I think I have one.

“When I was around 15, your Father, your Aunt, and our mercenary group’s priest, Rhys, had been invited by the neighboring village to perform some magic for the planting festival…”

* * *

When Ike heard Greil walk in, he was pulling awkwardly on his clothes. He wasn’t sure how to feel about them. The fabric was far finer than anything he had worn in his life, and he was terrified that he was going to ruin them if he even breathed funny. It didn’t help that he has no idea what to do with the coat. With it on, he felt like he was swimming in it, but it didn’t really work as a cape either, with the sleeves and the tassels. He had managed to convince Titania to let him keep his headband on, but she had still stuck a red silk flower in his hair with it before leaving to help with the horses.

Everyone was in town for the festival, and they were even staying in the village inn to give people more time to be ready. What that mostly meant for Ike, though, was that he was completely out of his element by being out of the fort.

“Well, are you going to be ready some time today, Ike?” Greil asked.

Ike whirled around at his father’s voice. “Yes, sir,” he said. He figured there was no point in asking if he would be allowed to change back into his everyday clothes. Greil had actually hired a seamstress to make these outfits instead of letting Mist, Titania, and Rhys handle it, for once, and they had been made with fabric given to him as a down payment for having the magic users of his troop handle the ceremony. “It’s just…” Ike fidgeted again with his coat. “Why us?”

“Sometimes, we do things because it is the diplomatic thing to do,” Greil said.

Ike scowled. He hated it when his father spoke in double meanings. At least he got this one.

Greil ruffled Ike’s hair. “Stop sulking, pup. We need to get going so we can support your sister and the others.” Greil turned to leave the room.

“I’m not sulking,” Ike said petulantly. Sulking was what kids Mist’s age did when they didn’t get their way. At 15, Ike was almost a man and was bound to become a full-fledged mercenary any day, and as such, he didn’t sulk. Still, he hurried after his father, putting his coat over his shoulders and closing the room door behind him.

Ike was quiet as they went down the stairs and left the inn to head towards the village square. Truth be told, he was worried about the ceremony. Not so much about the magic being messed up, as Soren has explained to Ike that it was little more than parlor magic that even someone just learning like Mist could handle, but other parts of the ceremony.

Namely, that Soren had to ride a horse.

Ike had no fear of Mist’s ability to handle a horse. Mist had been learning horseback riding from Titania since she was little and was a natural equestrian. Soren, on the other hand, had been learning the basics from Oscar and Titania for about a month and it was the first time Ike had ever known him to struggle with a new concept. Ike had watched him the day before last on Titania’s stoic warhorse sitting as stiff as a board and clutching the reigns in a death grip as he and her gelding slowly inched forward.

Just two months before the mercenaries had received their invitation, a horse passing by the fort had startled when it saw Soren leave its walls, throwing off its rider and nearly kicking Soren in the ribs. Ike had been more shaken by the incident than Soren, who was long used to the way horses reacted to him. Even Oscar and Titania’s warhorses, trained to ignore battle as they were, eyed him almost suspiciously.

Greil glanced over at Ike before speaking. “…They’ve given Soren a very old and placid horse, and Titania’s there to handle them if anything goes wrong.”

Ike flushed red. “I wasn’t… I know it will be okay.”

Greil only smiled as they reached where the rest of the mercenaries were standing in the square. Or, at Ike’s second glance, where Oscar, Boyd, and Rolf were standing. Shinon and Gatrie must have already walked off to get drunk, he realized.

Ike remained at attention by his father’s side, even as Boyd to his right was yawning through the village elder’s very, very long remarks. At the center of the square was a tall pole with ribbons and flowers wrapped around it and a large basin of cut flowers, in every color of the rainbow, surrounding it. He knew that the festival was some sort of blessing for the spirts of the soil by celebrating early spring’s bounty – he had heard the elder give the same speech every year since the fort was built after all. But Ike’s attention was more drawn to the stalls on the opposite end of the square, from which the scent of food was already wafting.

Just when Ike’s attention had all but vanished completely, he was startled the sound of horseshoes on the cobblestones of the square. He refocused on the center of the square, where Titania and Rhys were coming first on Titania’s own horse. Rhys, new frock aside, looked as he normally when on a horse: nervously clutching a tome and the saddle while Titania did the actual work of controlling the horse. Titania, however, was wearing _a dress_ and was even riding sidesaddle. Ike didn’t even know she could do that.

Mist followed behind them on a borrowed horse, wearing her new dress and clutching a basket of pink flowers. Ike noticed that she looked nervous as she brought her horse to a stop in front of the pole.

But when Ike saw Soren, it took a moment for him to even register what he saw. Ike was so used to Soren in plain, black robes that he hardly recognized the other boy in color. Soren was dressed in a bright green that brought out the undertones in his hair. It also seemed that he was unsure of what to do with his coat, as he wore it on only one arm. He held a basket of blue flowers Ike didn’t remember the name of. Bizarrely enough, Ike found his eye drawn to the gap between the end of Soren’s trousers and his shoes. Soren almost never exposed any skin and never bathed with the others anymore. It had been a very long time indeed since Ike had last seen Soren’s skin exposed somewhere other than on his face and hands.

Perhaps the most surprising was the was Soren carried himself. Despite his fear of horses, Soren looked calm. Confident. He wasn’t quite smiling, but he seemed sure of himself. In the morning sun, his hair shined as a result of the daily care he put into it and his eyes seemed almost like the red gems Greil was sometimes paid in – something bright and beautiful.

Ike felt like maybe he should be paying more attention to his baby sister, but his eyed seem to be stuck on Soren. He only felt more transfixed as Soren began to speak in the ancient language and the wind picked up, blowing the flowers in the basin into the air. As Mist and Rhys joined Soren in his chant, specks of light joined the flowers before settling along their petals to add a golden glow in the air. Ike watched Soren’s mouth as it moved with the words he spoke, framed by his hair and gold and color.

Suddenly, Ike thought that he maybe understood what “beauty” was for the first time.

Ike remained frozen in awe even as the chanting stopped and Soren dismounted his horse, returning it to the village elder. The flowers remained floating in the air where they would remain all day, floating on the spirits of the air (if Ike remembered what Soren had told him correctly, that is).

“-ke.” Suddenly, Soren was walking towards Ike. He barely noticed Soren calling his name, too caught up wondering if Soren’s shirt was as smooth as it looked.

“Ike,” Soren repeated, this time in Ike’s face.

He startled before blinking. “Hi,” he said.

Soren looked fondly exasperated. “We shared an inn room, Ike.”

“Yeah, but you left before I woke up,” Ike said, thinking fast. “You did really well, Soren. It was- It was… nice.”

“Just nice?” Soren said with a quirk of his lip.

“Pretty,” Ike said.

Soren sighed. “Come on,” he said, pulling Ike by the arm. “Clearly I’m not the only one who needs a break.”

Ike stumbled after Soren as he went back to the inn, feeling vaguely like a horse being led by the reigns. Now that he looked with a slightly clearer gaze, Soren did look vaguely harrowed. Perhaps being stared at by the crowd was a little too much for him.

When they returned to the room, Soren dropped down on the bed. “Thank the Goddess that’s over. I hope they never ask us to do that again.”

“Was it hard?” Ike asked.

Soren sighed. “No. It was just… All those eyes. And that horse.”

“It seems you handled it.”

“More like it handled me,” Soren muttered. He sat up and looked at Ike, who was still hovering by the closed door. “Really, I should be asking you if you’re okay. You look like you’ve been struck by lightning.”

“Me?” Ike said, voice cracking. “I’m g-” He cleared his throat, dropping his voice back down an octave. “I’m good.”

Soren raised an eyebrow but otherwise, thankfully, said nothing. It was then that Ike, struck by the contrast of Soren’s red eyes and red birthmark against his green clothes, was struck with a great idea. Reaching up into his own hair, Ike pulled out the flower pin on his headband. Before he could think too deeply about it, he crossed the room in a few strides.

“Ike?” Soren asked. Ike reached out and gently secured the red flower pin in Soren’s hair. Soren reached up and touched the pin, turning his head to look in the room’s polished bronze mirror.

Ike swallowed. “I thought it would suit you,” he said, throat dry.

Soren looked back in Ike’s direction as red slowly blossomed across his cheeks and spread from the middle of his face all the way to the roots of his hair and his chest. “Thank you,” he said, with a small smile.

Something in Ike’s chest throbbed and his palms felt damp. _Oh_ , he thought distantly. _Soren is beautiful._

The room remained quiet for several more beats before Soren seemed to compose himself. “Do you want to get something to eat, Ike?”

At that moment, Ike’s stomach growled loud enough to be heard in the room. Ike blushed and scratched his cheek. “Yeah, sounds good,” he said.

And with that, they returned to the festival.

* * *

 “And that’s how I first realized I was in love with your Father,” Papa concluded.

Elena frowned. “That wasn’t very exciting at all,” she complained. There wasn’t any action at all! Just Papa giving Father things and calling him pretty, which he did all the time anyway.

Papa laughed. “Well, it was for me.”

“I want to go down now,” Elena said in response. Smiling, Papa put her back on her feet. At the very least, she could brag to Nancy about all the fancy magic Father and her mysterious Aunt Mist could do. “Bye, Papa! Bye, Father!” she called as she ran off.

It was only after she had reached the other children that she realized that Papa hadn’t told her how he and Father had met at all. She puffed out her cheeks. Now she really wanted to know. But first, she had Nancy to show up.

* * *

 Ike supposed he should be more concerned about Elena’s ability to slip in and out of sight so easily, but after a decade of neighboring the village, he knew most of everyone.

“Did you really mean it?” he heard Soren ask breathlessly. Ike glanced over at his husband, who was red-faced. “Was that really the first time you realized you loved me?”

“Of course,” Ike said. “Why would I lie about something like that? Didn’t you notice? I could barely speak to you.”

“I thought you were hungry,” Soren said.

Ike laughed.

“I’m serious!” Soren said. “I never realized that it was… That early.”

“Did you think I didn’t know until the war?”

“Kind of.”

“And people used to call me oblivious.” Ike smiled and looked over his husband. Even now, in his everyday robes, Soren was beautiful. It had taken a change of looks to shock him into realizing how his feelings towards his best friend had evolved, but Ike had never stopped noticing Soren’s beauty after that day.

It was then that Ike remembered. “What every happened to that flower pin?” he asked.

“Hmm?”

“The red one I gave you that day.”

“O-oh,” Soren said. “That.” He averted his eyes and muttered something into the palm of his hand.

“What was that?” Ike asked.

“I said, I still have it. It’s at home, though.”

Ike’s eyes widened. “After 22 years?”

Soren smiled. “Yes. After all,” he said, grabbing Ike’s large hand in his smaller and squeezing it. “It was a present from the person I loved.”

**Author's Note:**

> edited content:
> 
> “Me?” Ike said, voice cracking. “I’m gay.” He cleared his throat, dropping his voice back down an octave. “I mean, I’m good.”
> 
> i will be writing real fics with elena one day. but for a quick summary, she's ike and soren's adoptive daughter and the direct ancestor of priam. she loves the idea of sword fighting and being a mercenary but obviously, being a little kid, ike and soren havent really shared the reason why that kinda sucks. she'll get there someday. but in the meantime, she's seven.


End file.
